Tim
Senior looks at the forthcoming Waddington Airshow, and its eagerly
awaited exotic Indian visitors. Pictures by Gary Parsons

Over the
last couple of years the Waddington International Airshow may have seemed
a little tame by comparison to some other airshows around Europe. Compared
to the other few remaining British military shows left, it has come in
for a bit of flak from some quarters, mainly from within the aviation
enthusiast community, over the distinct lack of foreign heavy metal on
display. While it is true to say that there has been a distinct lack of
row-upon-row of fast jets from foreign countries, there have been some
gems - remember the Israelis? The lack of aircraft is not helped by several
other big military airshows across Europe always falling on the same weekend
- these events tend to draw a larger mix of the more exciting fast jet
and other types instead of Waddington.

Indian
takeaway

One thing
that must be remembered is that most of our European neighbours are, like
us, suffering from constantly shrinking defence budgets. Some parts of
the Armed Forces in several countries have lost entire fleets; the Royal
Netherlands Navy P-3 Orions often attended Waddington, but they are part
of the German Navy, replacing those Atlantics we used to see.

Some
observers also seem to forget that a number of the European Air Forces
are now reduced to only a single front-line fast jet type. With several
NATO countries actively involved in operations in Afghanistan, and a number
of other locations, this exacerbates the problem further. Despite the
loss of some well-loved favourites here, the RAF, and the other services,
still have several aircraft and helicopter types left to choose from.
As do a few other lucky nations like France, Germany, Italy and Spain,
even if some of them seem to avoid this part of Europe nowadays - maybe
it's a legacy of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. A brief look back at
some of the UK airshows that took place around thirty years or so ago
reveals that there was a similar shortage of foreign types way back then
too.

Looking back
over the years it should be always be remembered that Waddington was the
only location in the United Kingdom that attracted the appearance of the
F-15Is from the Israeli Air Force back in 2001, together with their Lockheed
C-130 and Boeing 707 support aircraft; thinking back a little further,
it also hosted the first flying display by an F-117A Nighthawk from an
RAF airfield, and the Test Pilots Su-27P/PU Flankers for a couple of years.

Airshow
preview extras

The appearance
of the Indian Air Force, here to celebrate its 75th Anniversary and participate
in Exercise 'Indra Dhanush', is another 'first' for the hard-working airshow
team. Negotiations have been ongoing for two years, and it's not co-incidence
that the exercise follows the airshow weekend. Last year personnel from
43 Squadron at Leuchars and from the Sentry community descended on Agra
and Gwalior Air base in India during October, cementing the relationship
between Waddington and the IAF.

While we
will not see masses of Mirage 2000s and numerous MiG-21s, MiG-27s or even
any trusty old MiG-29 Fulcrums, we will certainly get to see the Indian
Air Force's mighty Sukhoi Su-30MKI Flankers, six of which have arrived
to take part in the exercise. Looking back a few years, the Indians have
operated an interesting mixture of British, French and Russian hardware,
together with a few home-grown types from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL). The Indian Air Force first took an interest in the Flanker family
in the early 1990s, having already used one of Sukhoi's classics throughout
the 1960s and 70s, namely the Su-7 Fitter. After several years of negotiation
they placed an initial order for forty Flankers back in November 1996,
but the Indians were certainly not
interested in purchasing a stripped-down and simplified version - they
were keen to get a version that would have thrust vectoring, together
with canards and more advanced systems than the versions then in production.
In choosing this advanced version they would have to receive the aircraft
in several batches, each being progressively more capable than the last.

The first
eight Su-30MKI airframes were effectively standard Su-27UB trainers and
these were delivered to 24 Squadron, the 'Hunting Hawks', at Pune for
training purposes in March 1997. Various delays affected further deliveries,
amongst these being the integration of avionics and development of other
systems, and the programme further suffered when the first development
prototype Su-30MKI made its much-publicised crash at the Paris airshow
in June 1999. Development continued and the first ten full standard Su-30MKIs
were ready to be delivered to 20 Squadron at Pune in September 2002, with
a further twelve following in 2003 and the final ten during 2004 and 2005,
allowing another Squadron, No 30, to re-equip with the type. In the meantime
the Indian Government had signed an agreement for the license production
of a further 140 aircraft in October 2000, with a contract following in
December of the same year.

The first
aircraft were built at Hindustan Aeronautics at their Nasik factory, although
they actually arrived in kit form from the Irkutsk Aircraft Production
Organisation. Eventually the remaining airframes will all be built using
more and more Indian produced components, with the engines and other sections
being built in India too. Further orders have since been place for the
type including eighteen during 2006, and a further forty were announced
during Aero India earlier this year.

The early
aircraft that entered service with 24 Squadron in 1997 are currently stored
after being retired in 2006, and are destined to be returned to Russia.
The total order for the Su-30MKI currently stands at a healthy 234 airframes,
with production of 140 airframes in India itself.

At
Waddington, two Su-30MKIs are due to perform an air-to-air refuelling
demonstration in the airshow with one of the Ilyushin Il-78MKI 'Midas'
tankers, one of two that are accompanying the deployment to the UK. Other
ground support has arrived courtesy of a pair of standard Ilyushin Il-76
'Candid' transporters, better known in Indian service as the 'Gajaraj'
(King Elephant). So, even if you cannot stay for the exercise, you will
at least get to see something a little different!

Once the
airshow has finished Exercise 'Indra Dhanush' gets underway on Monday
- apart from the based 8/23 Squadron E-3D Sentrys, other aircraft involved
in the exercise are currently unconfirmed, although 43 Squadron from Leuchars
is thought to be taking part. Air-Scene UK will bring you more on this
interesting Indian summer!